The Ward that Turned
by jean d'arc
Summary: Lady Stark is at Winterfell when Theon attacks. Along with Master Luwin and Rodrick Cassel they try to come up with a plan to save Winterfell.
1. Lady Greyjoy

**_The Ward that turned. _**

Lady Stark is at Winterfell when Theon attacks. Along with Master Luwin and Rodrick Cassel they try to come up with a plan to save Winterfell.

**_1. Lady Greyjoy_**

At least there had been no physical damage to the castle and casualties had been almost minimal. As they stood in the courtyard, Lady Stark had no choice but to hand the castle to Theon.

"How dare you?" she cried. "You lived with us, we gave you food, shelter, a home. My son trusted you, and is this how you repay him? By betraying him?"

"Food and shelter, the Lady says" shouted Theon to the people gathered in the courtyard. "I was a prisoner. Your husband took me from my home and my family and brought me here. You never game me a home. You ignored me Lady Stark, just like you did to that bastard, Jon Snow. But I wasn't a bastard, I was highborn. Now, the castle is mine!"

"Theon, please, don't" Catelyn begged.

"_Theon, please don't" _he mocked and turned to his men. "Take the Lady Catelyn to her chambers and lock her there. Lock the two boys in their rooms, as well. Everybody else go back your chores. You'll be working for me now"

Lady Catelyn Stark lay awake in bed trying to process everything that had happened in the past few months. She had returned from the Eyrie after that fiasco with her sister and Tyrion Lannister. She had met with her son Robb briefly in his camp and then she had returned home to Winterfell. She had been so happy to be back. She had not seen her two youngest sons in months. Rickon had grown so much, and Bran was awake. He was a cripple, yes, but he was alive and awake. But then word had come from the south, Ned had been executed and Robb was in the middle of a war. A war she may have started herself when she kidnapped the Imp, she thought with a pang of guilt. She had kept frequent communications with Robb. He would tell her about the war and she would advise and counsel him. Unfortunately, she had lost all trace of her two daughters. Sansa was a hostage in King's Landing and Arya had disappeared.

She had never liked Theon, she certainly had never trusted him. But Robb had. Going against her counsel he had sent Theon to negotiate with is father, Balon Greyjoy. Now Theon had betrayed Robb's trust and attacked Winterfell. She was a prisoner in her own home.

The knock on the door brought her back to reality.

"Lady Stark", said Theon standing at the door. "I hope you're comfortable".

"What do you want?"

"So no small talk. All right, then. The castle is mine, with everything in it: the weapons, the food, the drinks, the servants, the women, your children ... you"

"Leave the children out if this, Theon. Rickon is but five and Bran is defenseless".

"It's not the children I want. I want you to marry me"

"Are you insane? Why would I marry you? It's only a few weeks that I became a widow. I still mourn my husband. Besides, you're a low life scum, a turncoat who would betray the people who treated you like family"

"You were never family!" he yelled. "And you have no choice. The castle is mine"

"I will never marry you, Theon Greyjoy!" she said as she stood up and started walking towards him. "Now, leave my chambers"

He took a few steps forward in her direction. She never saw the fist coming until it made contact with her face.

"You will marry me, Lady Stark. I need the loyalty of the men in your house and I can only get it through you. Do not flatter yourself. It'd not your bed I want. It's your power and influence. I'll get Maester Luwin to fix you up. You need to look nice for the wedding. Goodbye _Lady Greyjoy_." he spat as he left.

TBC


	2. We need to make a plan

_**2. We need to make a plan** _

"Easy now, Lady Stark, I need to apply this on your face", said Master Luwin as he applied ointment on her cheek.

"That weasel needs to die" she said gritting her teeth.

"I have to agree with you milady. I have never liked that boy. At least he didn't do much damage. The bruise in your face should fade in a few days"

"Has he harmed the children?"

"No. Both Rickon and Bran are fine."

"Don't tell them that Theon attacked me. He wants me to marry him. He wants to become Lord of Winterfell. I can't do that. But if I don't, I'm afraid he'll take it out on the boys."

"I'll protect the boys. And Osha is with them day and night. I was able to send a messenger to Robb as you requested."

"That's great news. Well done, Master Luwin."

"I saw him ran into the night undetected. Hopefully your son will get word of our situation soon and send help"

"He can't. He's leading a war and needs every man he has"

"Then, we need to make a plan".

"Can the cooks poison their food?"

"No, milady. He always makes sure we eat the same food as his men"

"Being locked up here, I have no idea what goes on in the castle. Do we have access to the armory? Are any of our men armed?"

"No, milady. Theon made sure all our men handed all their weapons and he keeps the armory heavily guarded. However, some of our people still have their tools: shovels, rakes, axes and kitchen utensils including knives. And we outnumber them."

The door to Catelyn's chambers opened and a soldier came in.

"Time's up! Go back to your chores old man. The Lady will rest." And with that he pushed Master Luwin out of the room.

Lady Stark being confined to her chambers, the task of devising a plan fell on Master Luwin's shoulders. Because he was the Master, he had full access to all the areas in the castle and all the people there. Theon had allowed him to tend to Lady Stark and the children. Plus he still kept his office and was able to communicate with the servants and some of the Stark soldiers.

They didn't have much time and did not have access to any weapons with Theon's men guarding the armory. So they came up with a very simple plan. The kitchen servants would make sure to put a bottle of spiked wine in Theon's room; Lady Stark would agree to marry Theon and go to his chambers to discuss the upcoming wedding; she would somehow make sure he had a drink so when he fell unconscious she could kill him. Rodrick Cassel was going to wait in a nearby hallway in case she needed assistance. With all the commotion caused by Theon's death, they hoped Theon's men would be easy to overtake. The plan was not foolproof by any means. Any number of things could go wrong.

Within a couple of weeks everything was ready to set the plan in motion. Filled with dread and determination, Lady Stark walked into Theon's room.

"So, you've finally agreed to my proposition" said Theon with a smug smile.

"Do I have a choice?" and then she asked tentatively "When will the ceremony take place?"

"Next Sunday. I have already made all the arrangements.".

"I have some conditions, though"

"You're in no position to ask for conditions, Lady Stark. But out of courtesy, I'll listen to you".

"I will keep my Stark ring. I will wear your sigil, but will not remove the Stark direwolf"

"No"

"My children will not attend the ceremony. They lost their father not long ago. I don't want them to think I've forgotten him already."

"All right"

"There will be no bedding."

"Oh, yes there will be. If you want we can skip the bedding ceremony, I understand if you don't want your former servants seeing you naked. But there will be a bedding"

Lady Stark closed her eyes in resignation and pointed at the wine.

"May I?" she asked. When he nodded she poured herself a glass. She was not supposed to drink it, though. "Would you like a glass, Theon?"

"Sure, why not?".

She poured another glass for Theon and waited for him to drink it. But he didn't. She put her glass to her lips but did not drink, hoping he would drink now. He stared at her.

"Not thirsty, lady Stark?" he asked.

"May I sit down? I don't feel so well. You have to understand Theon, this is all too much. Ned was killed a short while ago. I can't just marry and bed another man. A man much younger than me. I feel very uncomfortable now. I had hoped the drink would help me, but .. I just .. I don't know" she said putting the glass down and hoping Theon would buy the act.

"I'll drink with you if you want"

"No, I think I'll pass. I'm a bit dizzy as it is".

"No, Lady Stark", he said pulling out a dagger "Drink it"

"What?"

"You heard me, drink it."

"What? Do you think it's poisoned? You control everything in this castle, Theon. There's no way I could have brought poisoned wine to your room even if I had wanted to."

"Drink it" he said putting the knife to her neck.

"All right, I'll drink it. I'll show you it's not poisoned" and she had a small sip.

"All of it. Bottoms up, Lady Stark"

Seeing no way out, she emptied the glass hoping the drugs would not take effect right away and she would still be able to get him to drink.

"I guess I misjudged you. I may have overestimated your strength, Lady Stark. You're still a subdued damsel who does everything she's told" he said with contempt and had a gulp himself.

She was already starting to feel the effects of the drug, and apparently so was he.

"What have you done? You stupid bitch!"

"We drugged you" she was able to say before she fell to the floor.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him coming at her with the knife.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Two weeks ago_ …

Robb was sitting on his chair in his tent. He was holding council with his men.

"My mother needs help", he said. "Theon has attacked Winterfell and taken everybody hostage. I don't have many men as it is, but I can't let Theon burn my house and run it to the ground"

"I'll go" said the Blackfish. "If you allow me, my lord, I shall get a contingent of my men and go to your house. I shall help my niece, free you family, and I shall kill that turncoat"

"Thank you Lord Tully"

TBC


	3. A Foiled Plan that Worked

_**3. A foiled plan that worked. **_

"I have a very bad feeling, Mester Luwin", said Rodrick Cassel. "We should go check" he added and he turned to the two Stark soldiers standing with him.

"No, let's wait. She said she would yell for help if she needed, give her more time" replied the Master.

They hushed as they heard soldiers run by. They looked out of the window and saw many soldiers lined up in the courtyard and archers on the towers.

"Something's wrong" said a worried Master Luwin.

"Wrong for us or for them?" replied Sir Rodrick with a smile "Look there, to the right of the outer wall. There's an army coming. Come on, let's hide before they come to get Theon"

Two of Theon's soldiers were knocking on his bedroom door. When they received no reply they forced their way in. They saw their Lord unmoving on the floor on a pool of blood with Lady Stark who was also still as death.

"Our Lord has been murdered!" shouted one of the soldiers "And the Lady Stark"

Taking advantage of their confusion, Sir Rodrick and his two men stormed Theon's room and quickly overpowered Theon's soldiers. They confirmed that Theon was indeed dead, a dagger protruding from his throat. Meanwhile Master Luwin started tending to an unconscious Lady Stark .

"Theon Greyjoy!" suddenly yelled a grave voice coming from outside "Give up the castle and we'll let you walk. Refuse and we will fight you. We will beat you and you will die."

As Rodrick Cassel looked out the window he celebrated:

"Gods be good! It's the Blackfish. The Lady's uncle. Lord Robb must have sent him."

Theon's soldiers in the courtyard kept waiting for their Lord to give a command. From one of the inner towers Cassel's loud voice could be heard:

"Men of the Iron Islands. Your Lord has been killed" and he produced Theon's body for everybody to see. "We have an army waiting outside. Surrender your weapons and you will be pardoned"

One by one, Theon's men started lowering their weapons. The outer gate was opened and Brynden Tully rode in with his army.

"Great timing, my lord" said Cassel.

"Where's my niece?" asked the Blackfish

"She's in Theon Greyjoy's chambers. We had a plan of our own, which would have failed were it not for your arrival"

As the Tully army and the Stark men took the Iron men to the dungeons, Cassel took Lord Tully to see his niece who was still being tended to by Master Luwin.

"She is unconscious but she will be fine", he said

"What's all this blood?" asked Lord Brynden Tully, fear showing in his voice.

"Theon's"

"So, what's wrong with my niece? Why won't she wake up?"

"Must be the drugs. She must have drunk the wine. There are two glasses on the table. She must have stabbed Theon before the drugs took full effect"

Seeing the confusion on Lord Tully's face Cassel informed him of the plan they had devised.

"Had you not arrived when you did, we would have been discovered. I dread to think what they would have done to us and the Lady."

Lady Stark started stirring and was taken aback when she opened her eyes and saw her uncle.

"Hey, Sweet Cat. Are you taking a nap while we save your castle?" her uncle told her softly.

"Uncle! Did Robb get our message? How is he?"

"He's fine, as far as I know. We received your message two weeks ago. We were marching south to try to end the siege on the Riverlands. I offered to come here with a small army."

"Thanks"

"My lady, what happened?" asked Master Luwin. "Did you take the wine?"

"I had no choice. He started suspecting we had poisoned the wine and made me drink it. When he saw nothing happened to me he took his. Then we started feeling the effects of the wine. He had had just a gulp, but I had drunk a full glass. I fell to the floor and he came at me with his dagger. I'm not very sure what happened then, but I remember grabbing his hand and being able to get the dagger from his fingers. I know I stabbed him, but then I blacked out. Is he dead?"

"Yes, mi lady. And the castle is yours again."

"Where are my children?"

"In their room"

"Please, take me to my chambers and have my children join me there".

"Yes, milady".

The following day Lady Catelyn Stark of Winterfell walked along the walls of her castle. They had come very close to losing it all. They had regained Winterfell from the Iron men, but her oldest son was still fighting a war. Sansa was still in King's Landing. Arya was still lost. And her husband … Ned was never coming back.

THE END.

Thanks for reading.

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